


Spiced Wine on a Snowy Day

by HASA_Archivist



Category: The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: 3rd Age - The Stewards, Drama
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-18
Updated: 2015-04-18
Packaged: 2018-03-23 12:54:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3769267
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HASA_Archivist/pseuds/HASA_Archivist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><strong>Golden Lord of Gondolin Series.</strong> A snowy day in Imladris towards the end of the year 2933 Third Age.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Spiced Wine on a Snowy Day

**Author's Note:**

> Note from the HASA Transition Team: This story was originally archived at [HASA](http://fanlore.org/wiki/Henneth_Ann%C3%BBn_Story_Archive), which closed in February 2015. To preserve the archive, we began manually importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project in February 2015. We posted announcements about the move, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this author, please contact The HASA Transition Team using the e-mail address on the [HASA collection profile](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/hasa/profile).

 

  
The snow drifted lazily down, blanketing the barren landscape. So still and quiet, all that could be heard was the soft tinkling of ice crystals landing upon one another. The dark-haired elf sitting underneath a sheltering bough, his back against the rough trunk, blinked and shook his head slightly when a snowflake landed on his lashes. He smiled. He loved watching the snow on days such as this! Too often, he did not have time to escape his duties to enjoy it from even a window, let alone sitting bundled in a fur-lined cloak.  
  
Taking a sip from a fur-wrapped bottle, he discovered the spiced wine was still warm. Whatever Elrond had invented to keep it such, he preferred not to know. The wine was warm, the spices reviving, and that was all that mattered as he sipped and watched the white landscape.  
  
A soft rustle alerted him that someone else had joined him. Not looking up, he simply downed another swallow and said, “Sit down, Glorfindel,” holding up the wine. Leather-covered fingers brushed his as the bottle exchanged hands, and the other joined him.  
  
Glorfindel must have drunk, for he suddenly coughed and sputtered. “For the love of Mandos, Erestor! What is in that?”  
  
Erestor grinned. “I am not quite sure what there is to love about Mandos, but I’ll take your word for it. The wine contains: tangerine, hibiscus, cinnamon and some of my potpourri.” He glanced over in time to see his golden-haired friend blanch. Then, the bottle was pressed back into his hands as he chuckled and turned his eyes back to the falling snow.  
  
They sat in silence for several minutes. “Where did you get tangerines?” Glorfindel asked. “They grow far from here, in the jungles near Umbar, I’ve heard.”  
  
“Elrond received several boxes from Círdan. I am not sure how the traders who visited Mithlond came by them, but they are quite delicious. Elrond presented me with a basket of them along with some oranges.”  
  
“Now those would make a nice mulled wine, my friend!” Erestor heard the excitement in the other’s voice. Glorfindel was quite fond of mulled wine, provided it was sweet, rather than his own more spicy variety. “Orange, cinnamon, cloves, maybe some juniper…”  
  
“We will have to make some,” Erestor concurred. More silence followed, broken only by the sound of snow slipping off an evergreen branch. Erestor took another swallow of his wine, offering it again to Glorfindel who took it hesitantly and sipped, rather than gulped this time.  
  
“I wonder how many more years we will be able to sit like this, before the darkness finds us and taints even this land?” Erestor spoke directly to the point and looked sadly at his companion.  
  
“Not long, I fear,” Glorfindel answered. But his eyes were drawn across the snowy meadow, along the path to the Last Homely House where a young widow and her toddling son were still adjusting to life away from their people. “But there is still hope…”


End file.
